Metro purchases Tualatin River waterfront property

MetroThe view across the Tualatin River from Metro's latest purchase in the Tualatin River Greenway.

TUALATIN -- A bond measure approved by regional voters last November is paying dividends in efforts to create a trail system that will eventually stretch from the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge near Sherwood to Lake Oswego.

The newest piece of what could be a decades-long series of property acquisitions came Thursday, when Metro announced the purchase of a half-acre of land along the Tualatin River.

Money for the $275,000 purchase came from a $227.4 million bond measure voters approved last November. By the time the bond is exhausted, Metro expects to protect between 3,500 and 4,500 acres of land in 27 specifically identified target areas.

"The main idea with this particular purchase is to create a trail that will run literally for miles along the south bank of the Tualatin River," said Metro Councilor Carl Hosticka, whose district includes the newly purchased property. "Over time, we'll be able to build up and assemble enough properties to really do something with them."

The property, located in Washington County off of Southwest Tualasaum Drive, includes 110 feet of river frontage along the Tualatin River and its confluence with Saum Creek.

A footbridge will be necessary at some point in the future to complete the trail, Hosticka said.

The key in accumulating enough properties to finish this and other projects targeted by the bond measure is patience, he said.

"In all instances, we are working with willing sellers," Hosticka said. "We can identify all of the potential properties we want, but we still have to wait for those opportunities to actually come up."

Three years ago, for instance, Metro finally closed a gap of more than a quarter mile separating Browns Ferry Park in Tualatin with public land owned by Clean Water Services. Using money previously authorized by voters in a 1995 parks and open spaces bond measure, Metro was able to buy private land that had recently come on the market. So while the gap was finally closed, Hosticka said, it had taken a full decade to do it.

The goals of the two bond measures, when it comes to the Tualatin River greenway, are somewhat different, said Heather Nelson Kent, a spokeswoman for Metro's parks and greenways program.

While money from the 1995 measure focused on acquiring land offering new access points to the river, funds this time around will be channeled to projects oriented around habitat and water-quality improvements.